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Music i’the air. Under the earth. ‘Tis the god Hercules, whom Antony lov’d, Now leaves him

Plodding among cracked car doors, parking lots, June asphalt splitting brownie sundae heat A song from a barrel organ you can’t have heard—

Come crunch these peanutsyou Bavarian circus beasttown-fair visionscar-door miragesthe song of a sound sighcircus procession passed on treadmills.Why can’t I name that azure or what I wantpaint onyx ornament of straddling cloudsListen the tune of your childhood not remembered.

I have been with you for days licking spilled ice cream, driving the sun but you are never there, brother.

PETER BEHRMAN de SINÉTY grew up in Maine and teaches as lecteur d’anglais at the Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris.